Close to 100 million dollars has been budgeted to operationalise the Couva Hospital and Multi-Training Facility, formerly known as the Couva Children's Hospital, in 2026. However the Opposition is questioning why no monies were allocated under infrastructure development for hospitals in certain geographical areas. Rynessa Cutting reports.
00:00The UNC government is set to make good on its campaign promise to operationalize the Coover Children's Hospital after 10 years in abeyance at a budgeted cost of roughly $100 million.
00:12There's work required on medical equipment, replacement of the x-ray anode tube for the 64-slice CT scanner, parts replacement for an MRI machine, replacing incubators and radiant warmers, replacing non-functional anesthesia machines, replacing CT and MRI contrast injector systems.
00:36But the opposition is questioning why there is no money budgeted for hospitals built under the PNM.
01:06Because obviously they intend to discriminate against the areas of the PNM people.
01:15The claim was strongly rejected by government members.
01:19Operationalization of the Coover Medical and Multi-Training Facility and San Fernando General Hospital.
01:26$100 million.
01:27The minister was very clear to explain that the reason that there's no adequation here is because construction hospitals have been finished.
01:36But although the children's hospital was completed in 2010 and handed over, and that government, that PNM government got it, they left it to rot.
01:48Shame on you.
01:49Meantime, the minister of health is giving the assurance that all public health facilities will receive adequate stocks of drugs, despite a $100 million decrease for the purchase of same in budget 2026, compared to fiscal 2025.
02:06In 2024, the actual expenditure was $448 million.
02:10So we're talking about millions, not hundreds of thousands.
02:14And some of that additional expenditure incurred in 2025 would have been for the shortfall.
02:23We're talking about $700 million.
02:26Yeah, I think...
02:27And I want to give the assurance again to the population that this will be sufficient to cover the drugs that is required.
02:35In addition to that, we are looking at different ways of procurements in terms of getting more value for money for the dollars spent on drugs and pharmaceuticals.
02:48This government has also explored an arrangement, an MOU, with the government of India.
02:52So we anticipate that this allocation will be sufficient, and if more is required, there are other avenues that can be explored.
Be the first to comment